look at my eyes, and forget your troubles
by Grilled Cheesby
Summary: The name sparks a memory of a young Uchiha boy with a short pony tail, recently promoted to ANBU. "Uchiha Itachi?" Kakashi asks, not knowing why he's so curious about this little kid. "Is that your brother?" Time travel, Outsider POV, Canon Divergence


**Summary:** _The name sparks a memory of a young Uchiha boy with a short pony tail, recently promoted to ANBU. "Uchiha Itachi?" Kakashi asks, not knowing why he's so curious about this little kid. "Is that your brother?" Time travel, Outsider POV, Canon Divergence_

**yeah so this is a weird little thing? idk**

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**look at my eyes, and forget your troubles**

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"I like your mask," a voice says behind him, startling Kakashi. He jumps slightly, shocked that someone managed to sneak up on him. He turns, not knowing what to expect, and there's a small child behind him, blinking up at Kakashi with one wide innocent eye, the other one covered by bandages wrapped around his head and eye.

"Thank you?" Kakashi says slowly, the words coming out more like a question than a reply. The kid just grins up at him, all pink chubby cheeks and delight. It makes Kakashi uncomfortable, the happy smile all full of life. He can admit to himself that he's been spiraling lately, mission after mission slowly weighing on him. He was in ANBU, so he should be strong enough to deal with his work load, but it's gotten to the point that he's performing assassinations one after the other. There's so much blood on his hands by now that he's stopped counting the lives he's taken. He's been living in a gray fog and seeing this dark eyed child beam up at him like sunlight is in direct contrast to his mood most of the time.

"You're welcome!" the child responds, moving closer to sit beside Kakashi, his little legs dangling off the branch.

Kakashi blinks in surprise, glancing down at the ground that is at least seven feet below them, and then back at the kid that somehow found his way up into the tree that Kakashi had been hiding in. "How did you get up here?"

"I walked," the kid tells him, his legs swinging like he doesn't have a care in the world. "I watch Itachi-nii do it all the time! I want to be just like aniki when I grow up!"

The name sparks a memory of a young Uchiha boy with a short pony tail, recently promoted to ANBU. "Uchiha Itachi?" Kakashi asks, not knowing why he's so curious about this little kid. "Is that your brother?"

"Yes!" the kid almost shouts, his grin even wider than before. "Aniki is the best shinobi in the entire world and I'm going to be just like him when I'm older!"

Kakashi listens to the kid spout praises for his older brother, watching him quietly as he gestures with his chubby kid arms. He's clearly enthused about his chosen topic of conversation, a childlike twinkle in his dark eye as he describes just how he's going to be like Itachi. Kakashi can't stop himself from smiling slightly at the kid's enthusiasm, feeling uncharacteristically relaxed in the kid's presence.

"Itachi-nii says that I'm going to be even better than him!" the kid whispers to him like he's sharing some important secret, his small hand coming up to cup his mouth. "I'm at a disadvantage 'cuz of my eye, but that's okay; I don't need two eyes!"

Kakashi is startled slightly, once more looking at the bandage wrapped around the kids head and his left eye. He hesitates for a moment, not sure if his question will upset the kid, but in his chest is a bubbling curiosity that he hasn't felt in years. Hesitantly, he asks, "What happened to your eye?"

The kid sobers quickly, a little frown on his face. He shrugs, suddenly shy as he won't meet Kakashi's eye. It makes Kakashi feel guilty for snuffing out the kid's flame, the burning feeling making him shift in discomfort. Compelled by something unseen, Kakashi swallows and tells the kid, "I lost my eye when I jumped in front of my teammate to save him."

The kid whips his head up, little mouth open in shock. His eyes are sparkling again and he's looking up at Kakashi in amazement. He looks at Kakashi's masked face and his covered eye and finally gives him a small smile, turning away to look down at his clasped hands.

"A bad man tried to take it," the kid whispers, wringing his hands.

Kakashi frowned, confused. Take it? Who would try to take a child's eyes?

The kid looks up at him, only his single is no longer the dark typical of the Uchiha, but rather the red of a Sharingan, and Kakashi jolts with surprise. There's three tomoe in that eye, a fully matured Sharingan, and Kakashi suddenly understands. Someone had seen the kid's developed eyes and had thought they could get away with kekkei genkai theft**. **Kakashi's lips thin at the thought, a brief wave of anger flowing through him at the idea of someone attacking a kid like that.

"I'm sorry that happened to you," Kakashi says gently, his voice soft and more soothing than it's ever been before.

"It's okay," the kid shrugs, a smile once more finding its way onto his face. "It's still there and stuff, but I'm not allowed to take off the bandage unless it's an emergency!"

Kakashi gives him an encouraging smile, letting the kid talk his ear off as they both dangle their legs over the tree branch. This is the most relaxed Kakashi has ever been in years, he realizes suddenly. How this little Uchiha could get him in a good mood so quickly is an absolute surprise, but he finds himself welcoming it.

"It was nice talking to you," the kid says, now more subdued, "but I'm supposed to meet aniki soon, so I have to go."

Kakashi feels a flash of disappointment at the kid having to leave, but he simply waves the kid away with a smile. "It was nice meeting you, little Uchiha."

"It's Sasuke," the kid tells him, throwing a smile his way as he slides forward and then drops from the tree branch, giving Kakashi a small heart attack. Sasuke lands in a perfectly executed crouch, grinning up at Kakashi like he's waiting for praise.

Letting out a breath, Kakashi gives the kid a thumbs up and an eye smile. "I'm Kakashi," he confesses, also giving his name.

"It was really nice talking to you Kakashi-san," Sasuke shouts up at him, already turning to run off. He gives a long wave as he goes, running past several buildings and then disappearing around the corner.

Kakashi shakes his head, a smile still gracing his face. He goes to lean back against the tree trunk, ready to bask in the peace of a quiet day, when he freezes, his muscles tensing.

He was on a mission, he remembered suddenly. He wasn't even in Hi no Kuni; what the hell was an Uchiha that young doing in Ame no Kuni, let alone _Amegakure_? And, Kakashi thinks with mounting tension, how did he successfully find Kakashi's hiding place? Remembering Sasuke's fully formed Sharingan, Kakashi shivered, senses on alert as he pushes himself higher into the tree. _The kid wasn't even wet_, Kakashi thought with an incredulous feeling blooming in his stomach, the cool chill of his own wet cloak suddenly registering. His mind started shooting on all pistons, racing as his thoughts scrambled to make sense of his situation.

A new image suddenly came to mind, blood everywhere as the dead bodies of the massacred Uchiha clan forced their way up into his consciousness. His mouth dropped open slightly, the shock almost making him slip from the branch he was precariously crouching on.

What the hell had that kid done to him that he couldn't remember Uchiha Itachi's rampage against his own clan and his subsequent defection from the village? In fact, Kakashi thinks with a chill, hadn't he read somewhere that Itachi's little brother, Sasuke, had gone missing shortly before the massacre?

With a wildly beating heart, Kakashi took off, sprinting as fast as he could towards the border of Ame no Kuni and Hi no Kuni. His position and presence was obviously compromised, he thought with mild panic. There was no point in sticking around now that he was caught. Kakashi puts the kid out of his mind for now, resigned to explaining to the Sandaime that his mission was compromised by a tiny Uchiha with a huge smile and a gut churning Sharingan eye.

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**w****atashi no me o mite, anata no nayami o wasurete**

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**so to explain since there isnt much from kakashis pov, sasuke travelled back in time at one point and he was too late to stop the massacre from happening, but he somehow convinced itachi to take him with him, so itachi stashed sasuke somewhere safe, commited murder, and then fled with his little brother to the akatsuki.**

**hes only acting like a sunshine child, but he is honestly happy to see kakashi, even if its while the man is obviously on an infiltration mission in Ame lol**


End file.
